The present disclosure relates to hitching a towing vehicle to a trailer or other vehicle to be towed and relates particularly to a guidance system and a method for its use in guiding a towing vehicle accurately to a position in which a trailer hitch can be coupled between the trailer and the towing vehicle.
Many trailers such as horse trailers and camping trailers are towed behind vehicles such as pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles. While small utility trailers can often be hitched to such a towing vehicle by lifting the tongue of the trailer manually or by moving the tongue of the trailer while its weight is supported on a stand including a wheel or skid, many trailers are large enough so that hitching them to a towing vehicle requires that the towing vehicle be backed accurately to a position in which a trailer hitch ball mounted on the towing vehicle is immediately beneath the coupler carried on the trailer or other vehicle that is to be towed.
On most such towing vehicles the trailer hitch ball or other mating hitch device is not in view of the operator of the vehicle. Even in a pickup truck with its tailgate lowered, the trailer hitch ball is normally hidden from the direct field of view of the pickup truck operator. When the towing vehicle is, for example, a larger truck or a sports utility vehicle loaded with equipment to be used during a long trip, for example, the rearward visibility may be even more limited, so that backing the towing vehicle requires use of side-mounted mirrors. Backing a towing vehicle accurately into position then usually requires a driver operator to rely upon hand signals and voice commands from a second person in position to observe the approach of the towing vehicle toward the trailer. Even for an experienced team of a driver and a signaling person such an operation is difficult, since the final position of the towing vehicle must be accurate within a fraction of an inch.
Many vehicles are now equipped with rearwardly-directed video cameras communicating with video monitors in view of the driver. Even when a trailer hitch member on a towing vehicle is in view of such a camera, however, backing a vehicle into the exact position required for a hitch to be coupled is, at best, difficult and uncertain.
Schultz U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0193603 shows use of a video camera mounted on the rear of a truck in connection with backing the truck to a required position for connection of a trailer hitch, but shows no way to indicate when the towing vehicle is precisely in the required position.
A team of a driver and a signaling person with little experience, or who only rarely hitch a towing vehicle to a trailer, can experience great difficulty, often requiring many approach attempts before the towing vehicle can be placed in the correct position. When the operation is not quickly successful, it can cause considerable disagreement, blame-laying, and unhappiness, thereby often creating interpersonal stress between people who are attempting to achieve relaxation and enjoyment of travel with a recreational vehicle.
While towing a large trailer such as a recreational vehicle, visibility to the rear of the towing vehicle is greatly obstructed and restricted. Side mirrors on the towing vehicle afford only a limited field of view, particularly behind the vehicle being towed, and backing such a large trailer therefore has often required guidance from a person on the ground, as when the trailer must be backed into a parking spot in a campground.
What is desired, then, is apparatus and a method for its use to facilitate backing a towing vehicle accurately into the required position where a trailer can be coupled to the towing vehicle without the need for directions or hand signals from a second person. Ideally, such apparatus could also be used to provide the operator of the towing vehicle with a clear view of an area behind the towing vehicle during the operation of moving the towing vehicle into position for coupling a trailer hitch, and also to provide a view of areas behind the towed vehicle.